Clicker training VS Verbal training

I've been thinking recently about people's approaches on training their birds. I've had my Bowie since April 2016 and have mostly gone with the verbal praise followed by a treat route for training her. This has worked pretty well so far but we are still working on potty training. She knows it's where she needs to go, I mostly bring her back to her cage or play stand on my own every 15-20 minutes but sometimes she will fly back on her own.

On the other hand, sometimes she will be lazy, not fly back on her own and leave a little birdy mess for me to clean which is thankfully super simple to clean up. I will give her a little time out though after she makes a mistake but it's to be expected anyways since accidents will always happen. She seems to like the princess treatment though, being brought back to her cage by me instead of flying on her own. I think my mistake is that I don't tell her to "go home" before putting her down, I normally just say "go poop" and "good job!"

Verbal seems to work pretty well for me though, but are there any benefits of clicker training? I feel like verbal teaches her that certain words and tones will help her communicate with me a lot better. I also feel like a con of clicker training is having to carry one with me at all times, which shouldn't be an issue since it's small but there'd probably be times where I would misplace it or forget it sometimes. What are some simple "key words" you use for verbal training if you went with that route?

What ways did you train your bird? Although it will be different for everyone, I'm interested in hearing what worked for you.

I’ve never used a clicker and my birds pick up tricks very quickly, sometimes in one session. I always use both a hand signal and verbal cue for each trick, except for “wings” where it was easier just to give the verbal command. However, I’ve never potty trained my birds, so it may work differently if potty training versus teaching tricks like wave, fetch, recall, etc. I actually purchased a clicker from Petsmart but all it did was freak them out. As long as you praise and reward immediately, clickers are unnecessary.

I’m in agreeance with the post above. The big downside to clickers is that you won’t always have it when you want to reward a behavior. *knock on wood* you will always have your voice anywhere.

I use verbal and hand signals to Salty, specific for each trick he does. He also recognizes when I am trying to show him how to do something, he understands "We do it" meaning he and I will do the trick together, and the command "You do it" so he knows I am expecting him to try the trick by himself. Right now we are doing this to show Salty how to play a little kids piano, but I;ve used this a lot of times

I prefer verbal for the reason I can always praise my bird but wouldn't always have a clicker.

I also don't buy for a second the argument of many "expert trainers" that parrots, being among the most intelligent animals on the planet, cannot connect an action to verbal praise and can only connect a positive action to a uniform "click" They aren't little computers that run off ones and zeros only. My bird understands numerous verbal commands/key words/praises etc... and communicates back through vocalizations and body language. A clicker is not required for communication with your parrot. Patience, paying attention and consistency with the words/tone of voice you use are

I give Bumble a verbal and hand command for each of her behaviors, and an excited YESSSS in place of a click. Same as the reasons listed above - AND I really don’t have enough hands for a clicker half the time.


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Verbal seems to work pretty well for me though, but are there any benefits of clicker training?
A click is a precise sound. Verbal words can change in tone or inflection. "Good" is not the same as "Good!" or "GOOD!". However, a click will always remain a click - unless you go clicker happy... (not recommended!)

Several people do find that it's easier to get a bird to respond by using a clicker. That is, get the behavior more precise.


I feel like verbal teaches her that certain words and tones will help her communicate with me a lot better. I also feel like a con of clicker training is having to carry one with me at all times, which shouldn't be an issue since it's small but there'd probably be times where I would misplace it or forget it sometimes.
This is a common misconception - as you may be able to see from some of the other responses.

You *DO NOT* need to have a clicker on you at all times once the behavior has been taught.

You train and reinforce the desired behavior using the clicker as the bridge. Once the bird starts understanding and learning the behavior, you can phase out the clicker and change to a verbal bridge. The end result - the bird responds to the verbal cue and no clicker is required.

That said, if the behavior starts to slip away, it may help to pick up the clicker to reinforce the desired behavior. (again - a clicker is a precise sound that doesn't change)



To be clear, a clicker is not required in order to 'clicker train' a bird - it's the foundations and basics of clicker training using positive reinforcement training techniques that you should focus on.


Birds who freak out over the sound of a clicker can still be clicker trained - by desensitizing the bird to the sound of the clicker, by using the click of a pen, or even 'clicking' with your tongue.


The benefit of Positive Reinforcement Training techniques (and similar methods) is that it can be so versatile!

Verbal and gestures for Ollie and I as well. I even taught him to "shhhhhh" and I put my finger to my mouth and then to his beak, he knows it means he needs to be quiet. Of course if he isn't quiet after that I don't acknowledge it in any way, I just move on. He does it like 85% of the time unless he thinks what he is telling me is WAY TOO IMPORTANT lol. I has come in useful when traveling and in hotels. He is also fully potty trained with a gesture and phrase and I know accidents happen but I have not been pooped on in about 7 months nor has he gone anywhere else besides his potty spots for about 4 months.